Queen Elizabeth II

1 portrait by Donald McKague

© Camera Press Ltd; On loan from American Friends of the National Portrait Gallery (London) Foundation, Inc.: Gift of Mr. Ford Hill.

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Queen Elizabeth II

by Donald McKague
bromide print, December 1958, published April 1959
19 1/8 in. x 15 1/8 in. (487 mm x 385 mm) sight
Given by Mr Ford Hill and the American Friends of the National Portrait Gallery (London) Foundation, Inc., 2015
Primary Collection
NPG P1585

Sitterback to top

Artistback to top

  • Donald McKague (1922-), Photographer. Artist or producer of 15 portraits.

Events of 1958back to top

Current affairs

Britain's first motorway is built. The Preston bypass (M6) was the first road to be built to official motorway standards, although the M1 (opened in 1959) was the first road to be given official status. The road was opened by the Prime minister, Harold Macmillan, and heralded a new age of mass, high-speed motoring.

Art and science

Michael Bond publishes A Bear Called Paddington, the first Paddington Bear book. This popular character is remembered for being found at Paddington Station by the Brown family, for wearing a floppy hat, duffle coat and Wellington boots, and for his penchant for marmalade sandwiches.
The children's television programme, Blue Peter, is broadcast for the first time.

International

Following the USSR's successful launch of the Sputnik 1 satellite in 1957, America launches its own space agency, NASA. Under pressure from the Soviets' early lead, NASA began research into human spaceflight. The competition between the two superpowers to explore outer space, send humans beyond the Earth's orbit and land on the moon was known as the 'space race'.

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